Happy Birthday, Martin Bernheimer

The great Martin Bernheimer is 75 today. The hour has arrived, and though I intended to conduct a fresh interview, my schedule intervened. I have been in touch with him via email this morning, however, and he is his usual, lovable self. ( “I think one (interview) every 70 years is plenty,” he said, when I told him of my frustrated plans. “But thanks.”)

Below, I reprint my interview with him conducted upon the occasion of his 70th birthday. It remains mostly current. The ending is lost for all time (apologies) in the maw of my old blog:

UPDATE: The ending has now been been restored thanks to the Archives de Martin Bernheimer.

Martin Bernheimer is 70. Sept. 28 is the day. Everyone remembers the name. For 31 years at the Los Angeles Times, Bernheimer was the classical music critic you couldn’t ignore, a writer whose keen perceptions…